Credit Suisse bankers tug for UBS job

Credit Suisse’s investment bankers are struggling to dispel fears about a culture clash with UBS Group AG after the latter’s rescue takeover, according to sources familiar with the matter. UBS bankers have been meeting with their Credit Suisse counterparts to discuss potential new jobs, but only a small number of Credit Suisse senior bankers who have strong client relationships will be retained. Formal interviews will take place once the deal is completed.

UBS has said it plans to scale back Credit Suisse’s investment bank since announcing the state-sponsored rescue of its smaller peer last month. UBS Chairman Colm Kelleher said that “primarily, that was focused on the investment bank…We need to put everybody through a culture filter to make sure we don’t import something into the eco system that causes issues.” The Swiss state is providing UBS with a 9 billion Swiss franc guarantee on potential losses from winding down the investment banking business. The trading operations will be managed in a separate non-core division, Kelleher has said.

As part of plans for the revamped investment bank, UBS is also considering letting go of its own underperforming bankers as it hires top performers from Credit Suisse. Speaking with analysts last month, UBS executives said they expect the deal to bring $8 billion in cost reductions by 2027, $6 billion of which would come from cutting the number of full-time employees across the firms’ operations.

While UBS ranked 14th advising on mergers globally last year, behind Credit Suisse at 11th place, and in underwriting share sales, Credit Suisse also ranked ahead of UBS at no. 10 while UBS ranked 19th, according to data compiled by Dealogic. However, in the U.S., where UBS has been lagging Wall Street peers, bringing in Credit Suisse bankers could provide an opportunity to quickly bolster its presence, according to one source. The acquisition will also allow UBS to accelerate planned growth in Asia Pacific, and in certain industries such as healthcare and technology, according to another source.